


Borealis

by shadow_djinni



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Culture, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Sendak Redemption AU, Sendak Redemption Arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 11:47:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17786786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadow_djinni/pseuds/shadow_djinni
Summary: At twenty-five, Shiro thought he was well past sneaking out in the middle of the night to fool around with a boyfriend.Fortunately for him, Sendak has always challenged his expectations.





	Borealis

**Author's Note:**

> For @Kai-Zer in the Shendak discord, part of the server Valentine's Day exchange.

“Keep your eyes closed, Shiro.”

Shiro tightened his grip on Sendak’s hand almost reflexively, unable to keep from smiling when Sendak squeezed back and guided him forward, pulling him against his side.  He laced his fingers with Sendak’s, squeezing again and earning a soft, fond hum in response as Sendak guided them through the Castle’s halls. He didn’t need his eyes to have a guess as to where they were headed--the hiss of a door opening flooded his nose with the distinctive smell of the Castle pod bay, like stale fuel but oddly sweet.  Their footsteps echoed oddly in the larger space, and he leaned his head against Sendak’s side, feeling the rise and fall of his breath through his whole body.

“So what do we need a pod for?” he asked, prodding Sendak gently in the ribs.

Sendak jerked at the touch and squeaked, startled, then said sulkily, “You said you’d keep your eyes closed.”

“They  _ are _ ,” Shiro protested, opening his eyes as soon as they came to a stop beside one of the pods, and nearly laughed at Sendak’s pout, getting up on tiptoe to scratch behind his lowered ears.  Sendak ducked to give him easier access, and Shiro stretched just a little further to kiss him on the cheek, earning a soft, pleased trill in reply.

“Would you like a lift?” Sendak asked, gesturing towards the pod--and blatantly ignoring Shiro’s question, the cocky tilt of his ears said as much.

“Not unless you’re planning to tell me where we’re going,” Shiro replied, and reluctantly pulled away from Sendak.  

He put his hand on the side of the pod and braced to swing himself up and in anyway--challenge or courtship, he’d never backed down from anything Sendak had proposed before, and sneaking out of the Castle in the middle of the night like a couple of teenagers wasn’t going to be the place he folded.  Not if he had anything to say about it. He tilted his head, lifting his chin challengingly.

Sendak huffed and smiled in response, hinting at teeth.  “Do humans not  _ do _ surprises?” he asked.

Shiro blew a raspberry at him and slung himself into the pod’s cockpit, ignoring Sendak’s laughter behind him.  He couldn’t ignore the way the pod rocked when Sendak climbed in after, still giggling, but he let the Galra pull him close and press their foreheads together affectionately.

“I’m teasing,” Sendak said gently.  “But I promise, you’ll love this--trust me.”

“If I didn’t trust you, I’d still be in bed,” Shiro said, fumbling for Sendak’s hand and squeezing it to let him know he was teasing back.

Sendak chuckled and kissed him--one of his quick, sweet kisses that made Shiro want to grab him by the ruff and drag him in for a longer one--and turned back to the pod’s controls, shutting the roof and powering it on, then opened the bay doors and guided them out.  Shiro sighed and curled against his side again, settling his head against Sendak’s shoulder and watching the viewscreen as they moved away from the Castle, out into the void. He carefully avoided looking at the nearest star, looming large as a quarter held at arm’s length.  Allura had been oddly particular about stopping the Castle inside a star system during designated sleep hours lately, for reasons she hadn’t deigned to share even with him, much less the rest of the Paladins. He and Sendak had discussed it for hours, throwing out potential theories--that she thought being among orbital bodies would hide the ship, using solar radiation to conceal the Castle’s signal, even having nearby bodies with solid gravity wells to slingshot themselves around should they be caught again, like after Olkarion.

Something jostled his leg, and he glanced down at his and Sendak’s legs, then placed his hand on the Galra’s knee to stop its bouncing.  Sendak stilled, and Shiro looked back up, meeting his gaze evenly. Sendak’s cheeks blazed blue, and he quickly turned his attention back to the screen, ears lowering in embarrassment.  They, too, were blushed blue along the top, and Shiro couldn’t help reaching up to pet the near one.

“Nervous?” he asked.

“Excited,” Sendak replied.  “Do you see that planet?” He pointed at something on the viewscreen, and Shiro followed his direction to the small, ruddy globe growing steadily larger before them.

“Have you been there before?” he asked.

“Once.  I was stationed in this sector…oh, fifty years ago?  There was a remote monitoring station there, tracking radar--” at Shiro’s startled look, he raised a hand from the controls to stop his question-- “it was decommissioned before I transferred out of the sector, don’t worry, but part of my duties were to accompany the cruiser’s technicians to do maintenance on the stations in our jurisdiction.  I’ve spent time on half a dozen otherwise worthless rocks in this sector, but this one was my favorite.”

“Why?” Shiro asked, leaning forward to study the planet as they approached.  It didn’t  _ look _ like much--dull, rust-colored and ice-capped at the poles--like Mars, if he had to make a comparison, just a little bigger.

“For starters, it has a breathable atmosphere and is  _ not _ miserably hot,” Sendak said, flashing him a grin.  “And you’ll get to see the other reason  _ very _ soon.”

“Tease,” Shiro muttered, and jabbed him in the ribs again.

Sendak laughed, shrugging it off like he hadn’t even felt it, and guided them into their descent.  The pod shuddered as it entered the atmosphere, the angle of descent rattling the cockpit, and Shiro grabbed at Sendak’s forearm for stability.  Sendak wrapped the arm around him in response and pulled him close, changing his angle to skim across the atmosphere before plunging them towards the surface, whooping fiendishly.  Shiro couldn’t help laughing in response, scooting himself entirely into Sendak’s lap and grabbing his arm again, holding on tight.

They pulled up abruptly less than ten meters from the surface, and Shiro took half a second to be grateful that Altean technology limited the stress of the G-forces before spinning around to sling his arms around Sendak’s shoulders, laughing delightedly.  Sendak laughed too, his eye alight, and Shiro couldn’t help himself--he lunged up, getting a handful of Sendak’s ruff to pull him in for a kiss. Sendak kissed back, one hand coming off the controls a moment, his arm wrapping around Shiro’s waist.

Sendak broke the kiss first, pressing a second kiss to Shiro’s forehead while he caught his breath, and did something Shiro couldn’t see at the controls, though he felt it when the pod settled to the ground beneath them.

“Come on, my light,” Sendak said softly, and retracted the roof.  “We don’t have long, maybe a dobosh before it begins--I’d hate for you to miss it.”

“Miss  _ what _ ?” Shiro asked.

Again, Sendak didn’t answer.  He hoisted Shiro onto the roof again, scrambling up after him and pulling him close, resting his chin on top of Shiro’s head.  Shiro let him, curling against Sendak’s broad chest. The air around them was cold, and felt thin and crisp in Shiro’s lungs, but the heat of Sendak’s body was enough to drive back the chill.

“Look,” Sendak said quietly, pointing up at the sky.  “To the pole. It’s starting.”

And then Shiro no longer had to ask.

A streamer of light, fine as gossamer, rippled across the sky.  Its upper edge blazed crimson, rippling into phosphorescent green as it descended to hang suspended and swaying like the skirt of a great dancer.  A second followed moments later, and a third rippling in blues and violets, and then the whole sky was awash with color.

“ _ Aurora borealis _ ,” Shiro whispered, too breathless for anything else.

“Is that what your people call it?” Sendak murmured in his ear.

“The interaction between charged particles from a solar flare and gas molecules in the upper atmosphere?” Shiro asked.  He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the lights. The nearest ones streamed directly overhead, seeming close enough to reach up and touch.

“Yes,” Sendak whispered huskily.

Shiro nodded.  “This is the most beautiful display I’ve seen in person,” he said.  “We never got them at the Garrison, it was too far south--I’ve only seen them at my grandparents’ home in Japan.”

“The old stories say they’re the skirt of the god Ahulra, dancing with joy in creation,” Sendak said, his voice hushed and reverent.  “I never believed until I saw them here.”

Shiro took Sendak’s hand again, squeezing it comfortingly, then laced their fingers together and settled back against his chest.  His thumb stroked over Sendak’s, slow, soothing strokes, and Sendak hummed in response. The warmth of his breath ruffled Shiro’s hair a moment later as Sendak buried his nose in it, breathing deeply.

“.......Thank you for sharing them with me,” Shiro said at last.  “They’re……”

He hesitated, searching for a word to describe what he saw.  The lights danced on overhead, rippling emerald and crimson and blue-gold-violet against the black behind them.

“I’d hoped you’d love them,” Sendak said softly, and Shiro turned around in his lap, reaching up to cup his face in both hands.  There was a softness in his expression, a deep, vulnerable gentleness, and the lights danced across the lens of his prosthetic and shone, reflected and refracted, in his eye.

Shiro leaned up and kissed him, slow and sweet.


End file.
